Former President Joe Biden thanked supporters for their well-wishes on Monday after his personal office announced he has cancer.
“Cancer touches us all,” Biden said on to X. “Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”
Biden’s office announced Sunday that the former president had been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms,” read a statement released by the president’s personal office. “On Friday he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” the statement read.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” the statement continued. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
The Gleason score is calculated by adding together the two grades of cancer cells that make up the largest areas of the biopsied tissue sample. The Gleason score usually ranges from 6 to 10. The lower the Gleason score, the more the cancer cells look like normal cells and are likely to grow and spread, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Biden and his family are meeting with doctors and considering hormone treatment for the cancer, according to a source familiar.
